When to list your prices (this goes for anything – from copy to phone calls)

Hey!

How are ya? I hope you had a killer Thanksgiving (for you Americans – for everyone else hope you had a very normal Thursday lol).

Funny story about Thanksgiving…

My life partner, Louisa, and I drove up to St. Louis to visit my family.

(If you didn’t know, Lou is also the co-founder of our design, copywriting, and marketing company Unexpected Ways.)

Now, me and Lou don’t believe in marriage. We completely respect other peoples’ right and choice to get married – but for us, it’s just a title that doesn’t change our relationship at all or add any kind of significant value.

So we call each other life partners.

Now get this…

For the ENTIRE week, my family tried to convince us that we needed to get married as if the world would end if we didn’t.

(Disclaimer: I love my family very much and I know they’re just looking out for me)

Here’s the funny part…

These were their reasons:

1. My aunt told me that her husband’s son had no respect for her because she was just “his dad’s girlfriend.” So she got married to show the little bastard that she was important…
2. Tax cuts…
3. And if one of us gets sick, the other can make medical decisions for the sick one (even though there are other ways of giving people this right)…

Now, notice that not one of them said anything remotely like this:

• Marriage is a sign of commitment, love, and dedication…
• Marriage is a way of letting everyone know how you feel about each other…
• Marriage is a way of making a concrete statement that you’re serious about your relationship, and about starting a family together…

Apparently to my family marriage is just a way to put little kids in their place, get a break from the government, and an answer to the fear of what happens when your loved one gets sick.

Yeah…

I’m starting to think I know why the divorce rate in this country is so high now lol…

Okay, so I’m mostly kidding, and I know my family didn’t get married just for those reasons – but can you imagine me sitting there in conversation after conversation hearing these things over and over? lol

But anyways – on to the good stuff!

When do you tell people your prices?

Ah, the age old question. Luckily it comes with an age old answer.

Unfortunately, though, not enough people know this answer because I’m asked this question all the time. And on tons of websites I visit and sales pitches I hear, I can tell that most people out there still don’t have a clue.

Here’s a general rule of thumb for stating price:

When your reader knows exactly what they’re getting for their money, and they’ve already made the decision that they really want what you have to offer, you tell them the price.

Pretty simple, right?

That’s why on long copy sales letters the price is always at the bottom.

But let’s come back to the first part of that statement…

“When your reader knows EXACTLY what they’re getting for their money, and they’ve already made the decision that they REALLY WANT what you have to offer…”

This is the important part. You have to convince them inside and out that what you have will, without a doubt, improve their life.

Then you tell them how much it costs. That’s because by this point they’ve already made the decision to buy, so they’ll be more likely to shell out for however much it costs.

But any time you tell people how much money you’re going to take from them – they get scared…

They get this instinctual reaction of “is my money safe?”

And you want to immediately answer them, “Yes!”

That’s what the purpose of a guarantee is. So right after you state your price, instantly make your reader feel safe by offering a guarantee.

For instance…

• 100% unconditional money back guarantee…
• Try it FREE for 30 days. If at the end of 30 days you’re not happy, just let me know and I’ll issue a full refund. Say nothing and you’ll be billed for the full price…
• Try it for just $1 for 1 week. If at the end of the week you’re not happy in any way, let me know (etc)…

Cheers,

David

p.s. Scroll down a little bit and leave me some comments! Ask your questions too (I know you have some!)